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Saturday, 30 May 2015

Question time

This is a very practical posting as you will discover, but I thought that I would start it inconsequentially before we all get down to business. The day got off to a good start, in spite of very meagre attendance in the moth trap, when an imperious-looking Sparrowhawk settled on top of our bird feeder and fixed out breakfast-making in the kitchen with his, or her, beady yellow-rimmed eye.

It was too brief a stay for me to photograph and fortunately he, or she, didn't make off with any small birds. But an hour or so later, as I biked into Oxford along the canal towpath, I did have time to take pictures of this typical family scene:

"Now don't go too far dears!"

"That's better - plenty of food to dabble for near the bank."

"All content? Then I'm off to Tesco in Kidlington."

And to so to the nuts and bolts. I've assembled in one place, for convenience, all the May moths whose ID I've failed definitely to crack. I've put my best guesses on a lot of the captions, but would as always be grateful for more expert views. A big THANK YOU in advance. Update: and a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Ben Sale, who has gone through the whole lot, corrected those I got wrong and ID-ed those I left as mysterious. MUCH appreciated, Ben.

HELLO EVERYONE!

This is a blog about moths recorded and released in gardens in Leeds (2008-13) and Oxfordshire (2013 to date). I hope that you find it interesting. Click on the three tabs above for additional info, including a full illustrated records list. All warm wishes MW